The Bully and The Victim
by Umine Yumeka
Summary: He was a perfectionist. She was a person full of flaws. The two don't mix too well. The pain that resides within is suffocating. How will they end?


There's a throbbing pain in my chest. The cause? Him. Len. The boy who taunts me every single day. The one who seeks for true perfection in life. The reason of my depression.

He is the stone-cold guy at school. With his good looks, many girls had confessed to him, only to have their hearts completely shattered. He'd pick out every flaw he could find, and when he was done, he'd turn around and leave without another word. It happened one day, when I was walking down the corridor, and suddenly he stopped me. And then began picking out my imperfections. His words still ring in my head.

"You're short, even shorter than the freshmen. Your stutter is annoying, talk like a normal person. In fact, the only redeemable quality about you is that you're smart, without it, nobody would spare you a glance"

At that time, I stared at him for a while, not believing his sudden outburst. Slowly, reality began to sink in and all I could see was darkness. I managed a broken smile, before turning away, finding my solitude in the nearby bathroom, breaking down, hoping it would end, but it continued.

Every.

Single.

Day.

And I hate all of it. His insults follow me into my nightmares. Every night, it's the same dream. I sit inside an empty classroom, on my table, I see words written on with a black marker, reading 'kill yourself', 'jump off a roof', 'die' and many other phrases. And on the blackboard, is filled with insults he once said. The blackboard slowly becoming white with each passing day. And then, he walks into the classroom, staring at me with his emotionless eyes. Before he gets the chance to open his mouth, I wake up, breathing heavily with sweat on my forehead, unable to go back into sleep.

I started to think about my appearance. If someone didn't see me, didn't know me, would they still judge me? That night, after I woke up from the horrid nightmare, I decided to go online, and search for a way to answer my question. There I found a site, where I could narrow down in the other users, I decided to narrow it down to my city and my age group. A pop-up read, 'Please enter unsername' I thought for a while. I didn't want to give out my real name, it wouldn't be safe. 'Hmm, How about Riliane? It sounds right, and it's also similar to Rin' Reaching my conclusion, I entered the name, and waited for the site to find my text buddy. An account popped up, a person named Alexiel. He was also 13, so it should be easy to talk to him.a

And so, their texting begun.

Riliane: "Um, nice to meet you, I'm Riliane."

Alexiel: "Nice to meet you Riliane, I'm Alexiel."

Riliane: "So, what brings you to this site?"

Alexiel: "Well, my parents had an argument, so I wanted to get my mind off things, you?"

Riliane: "I had this nightmare and I couldn't sleep, so I decided to meet someone new."

Alexiel: "Oh, that's sad."

Riliane: "It's nothing. Hey, can I tell you something?"

Alexiel: "Sure"

Riliane: "There's this boy at school, who loves perfection, and he kinda bullies me. Do you know what I should do?"

It was a really bold question, but I wanted to get straight to the point.

Alexiel: "Honestly, I think you should stand up for yourself, you shouldn't let him treat you like that"

How was it possible? A person who had no idea who I was, was helping me. And yet the other kids at school either ignore me or treat me like I'm their plaything.

Riliane: "How are you so sure? We don't know each other, yet you're giving me advice?"

Alexiel: "Because nobody deserves to be treated that way."

Wow. Just wow. I really was lucky to have met him. Even though we don't know each other, I feel the strong thumping in my heart, I'm no longer a puppet. He's special.

Riliane: "Thank you Alexiel, your words really encourage me."

Alexiel: "It's nothing. Why do you think he bullies you?"

Why? I've never even thought of the question.

Riliane: "Hm, I've never really thought of it. Maybe he's lonely?"

Alexiel: "Lonely?"

Riliane: "Like, he wants some attention, maybe. I'm not sure."

Alexiel: "Huh, that's an interesting thought"

We continued to talk for the rest of the night. Learning each other's preferences, lifestyle and such. I got to know a lot about him. How he had a difficult life at home, he was really popular At school, and how he strived for perfection in life.

Days turned to weeks, and days turned to months. The two of us had gotten really close together. The bullying at school had finally stopped, for some unknown reason. My life was slowly returning to normal. Wake up, talk to Alexiel for a while, go to school, and talk to Alexiel again after school. It was happy, seemingly perfect.

'Meet me on the rooftop after school on Tuesday, your secret admirer' was what was written on the note in a very neat handwriting. The entire day, I debated about it, and I decided to ask for advice from my best friend.

Riliane: "Alexiel, I have a question"

Alexiel: "What is it Riliane?"

Riliane: "A secret admirer asked me to see him. Do you think I should go?"

He didn't reply however. Did I say something wrong? Did something happen to him? I suppose the decision is up to me now.

I saw the orange sky through the window, gently pushing the door, I walked out, feeling the wind ticket my cheek. A lone figure stood with his back turned towards me. A figure, so familiar to me. He turned towards me, and said, "I'm sorry for bullying you. I know sorry doesn't change anything, but if I may, ask for your forgiveness?"

I thought about this silently. The guy who tormented my life asked for my forgiveness. "W- why did you bully me in the first place?" I choked out. Maybe, if his reason is acceptable. Just maybe.

"I wasn't really sure at first. My parents were always really strict, if I scored a perfect score on one subject, they would question why I didn't score a perfect score on another. I suppose that's why I became a perfectionist." He said with a faraway look in his eyes. "It became an instinct to just point every flaw out. And I'm really sorry for hurting your feelings. A friend of mine suspected it's because I wanted some attention, and you've hit the nail right on the head," He had a slight smile on his face, "Riliane."

Huh? I felt my cheeks heat up. No way, the guy who bullied me, is the guy who I fell in love with online. "I love you, do you accept my confession?" I shouldn't. I really shouldn't. A rational person would definitely say no, but why am I leaning towards yes? "You promise to never hurt me?" Please, say yes. "I swear with my life."

"I accept your confession, Alexiel."

 ** _Now I know I said I wouldn't post for a while, but this is actually homework. The topic was teen problems. Yay. Suicide was off the list cause the principal is dumb so I chose the next best thing. Bullying and depression. This is actually the original version, I have to cut down on the words cause the requirements were about 250 words. And this is 1212. Curse you word count! Hopefully, I'll update on High School Love sooner. Please be patient until then. See you next time!_**


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